Contents of the CONCALC.DOC file

The CONCALC software and manual ("documentation") are copyrighted by theauthor. Use of the software indicates your acceptance of the followingDISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY.

DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY

Although this software and documentation have been thoroughly tested andreviewed, both are provided solely "as is" and without warranty of any kind.The author specifically disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied,including, but not limited to, implied warranties of merchantability andfitness for a particular purpose with respect to defects in the software anddocumentation.

IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFIT OR ANY OTHERDAMAGE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, COMMERCIAL,CONSEQUENTIAL OR OTHER DAMAGES OF ANY KIND RESULTING FROM THE USE OF THISSOFTWARE OR ITS DOCUMENTATION.

REGISTRATION

To register this software, send $5 (check or money-order) to:

Bruce Warr 6010 Avenida Chamnez La Jolla, CA 92037

UNIT CONVERTER and FORMULA CALCULATOR

This program contains three selections that convert between units of various systems of measurment and three selections that calculate a variety of scientific formulas.

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES

This selection converts length, area, volume, time, weight (mass), angle, and charge measurements and combinations thereof within and between the English, Metric, and Troy (apothecary) systems.

NAMING CONVENTIONS: A list of valid unit names, abbreviations, and metric prefixes can be displayed by pressing the key. Where a unit name has more than one usage, the most common usage is assumed for the basic unit and all other uses are prefixed. EXAMPLE: The unit "Ton" most commonly refers to "Short-Ton" so the other two uses are labled as "Long-Ton" and "Metric-Ton". With the exception of ounces, for which weight is the most common use, fluid measures are assumed to be more common than dry. Only the basic metric units appear in the unit name list but any of them can be prefixed with a metric prefix to form a valid unit. EXAMPLE: kilometer, centimeter, millimeter, etc.

ENTERING NAMES: Names can be entered singularly (as they appear in the list) or as compound names. Compound names may be used where the quantity being measured is multidimensional. Squared and cubed units are entered as UNIT^2 and UNIT^3 (capitalization is for readability only). Units of dif- ferent types that are to be multiplied are separated by a space and units to be divided are separated by PER.

EXAMPLE 1: AREA is defined as distance times distance, often refered to as distance squared. Some valid AREA compound units are FEET^2, MILES^2, METERS^2, etc. There are also two valid single unit names: ACRE and ARE.

EXAMPLE 2: FORCE is defined as mass times distance divided by time squared. Some common FORCE single units are NEWTON and DYNE, but these can be entered as KILOGRAM METERS PER SECOND^2 and GRAM CENTIMETERS PER SECOND^2. You could even have TON MILES PER MINUTE^2.

All units entered must be of the same type (e.g., distance, weight, mass per time^2, etc.), otherwise a '... dimension incompatibility' message will be displayed.

INPUTS: The first input required is for the quantity and units from which you wish to convert, and is in the form:

[, [, ]]

EXAMPLE: 5 yards, 2 feet, 7 inches

A total of three mixed unit entries may be input at once provided they are separated by commas and are of the same type. If the program does not recog- nize a unit, an error message will appear.

Entering a single unit without a quantity in front will cause that unit's dimension(s) to be listed.

EXAMPLE: entering 'newton' will display: DISTANCE MASS PER TIME^2

The second input is the units to be converted to and must be of the same type as those converted from. If there are no entry errors, the conversion is then performed and displayed.

TEMPERATURE

Conversions are made between three different systems: Kelvin, Celsius, and Fahrenheit. The first input is the temperature to be converted and is in the form:

The second input is the units converted to.

NUMBER BASE

This selection will convert numbers from one base to another. Decimal numbers can be converted into any base and vice versa. Binary (base 2) numbers can be converted into Octal (base 8) or Hexidecimal (base 16) and vice versa. The conversion type is selected from a sub-menu.

You will be prompted for the required input. There are only two things you must pay attention to:

1. The total number of digits used in any number system is the same as the base (e.g., the Decimal system [base 10] has 10 digits [0-9], the Binary system [base 2] has two [0-1], etc.).

2. For bases greater than 10, the extra digits are represented by letters (e.g., the Hexidecimal [base 16] has sixteen "digits", the decimal digits 0-9 and the letters A-F). Therefor, the largest base that can be handled is base 36 (10 digits plus 26 letters).

FORMULAS

The formula selections provide a variety of scientific formulas, most of which have three or four elements. You select the desired formula from a sub-menu. An input mask will then appear for entering the quantities. Enter 0 (zero) for any unknown quantity. After the last quantity has been entered, the unkown quantities will be calculated or an error message will appear if not enough quantities were given for a solution. A minimum of two quantities or more must be given. If more quantities are given than needed the extra quantities are not used in the calculations and may be re-calculated.

No units are used with the formulas so you must be familiar with what units and terms are used together. For instance, if force is calculated in NEWTONS, then the units are kilograms, meters, and seconds; but for DYNES they are grams, centimeters, and seconds. Particularly insidious is the English system since mass unit for POUNDS of force is the SLUG, not the pound. So one POUND of force is one slug-foot per second squared, while one pound-foot per second squared is a POUNDAL!. The one consistent dimension is time which is always in seconds for all systems.